Miniaturized arrays may be used in a variety of applications, such as gene sequencing, monitoring gene expression, gene mapping, bacterial identification, drug discovery, and combinatorial chemistry. Many of these applications involve expensive and oftentimes difficult to obtain samples and reagents. Accordingly, miniaturized arrays, which are preferably high density, are desirable because the use of such arrays may dramatically increase efficiency with respect to limited or expensive samples when compared to standard arrays, such as a 96 well plate. For example, a 96 well plate may require several hundred microliters of sample per well to run a diagnostic experiment whereas a miniaturized array would require only a fraction of that sample for the entire array. In addition to the reduction of volume, miniaturization allows hundreds or thousands of tests to be performed simultaneously.
Many methods for manufacturing arrays currently employ the use of glass substrates. Glass is preferred because of its low background fluorescence and relatively low chemical reactivity. However, many methods of manufacturing arrays on glass have other complications, such as how to achieve high densities with precision. Thus, there is a need for additional methods by which arrays can be manufactured, particularly those having high densities of binding sites.